Hi, I’m thinking about growing blueberries for the first time and can’t decide which to get. I’m in zone 6 Pittsburgh area and I’d like to get two or three bushes. I like sweet berries that are really flavorful, the worst would be either really tart or ones that are like the usual grocery store ones that to me are usually bland, watery and mushy. I’ve been thinking about Legacy, Mini Blues, Toro, or Northland. I’m open to northern Highbush, half highs and lowbush. Quantity isn’t really important to me because there’s only two of us, so flavor is really the most important thing to me. Thanks in advance.
The ones on my short list are below, I haven’t tried any. Do you care about size, ripening time, or firmness?
Spartan
Patriot
Dixie
Elizabeth
Blueray
Hannah’s Choice
Cara’s Choice
Kabluey
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I like toro but it’s soft. My favorite last year that I’ve tried and were new to me:
Draper
Darrow
Newer varieties, huge berries, crispy 
, sweet and tasty as well.
I have some ka bluey but haven’t had the fruit yet. A lot of people say really good things about it though.
For a non-traditional flavor: pink popcorn and pink lemonade
I like pink lemonade more but a lot of people seem to have trouble with it. Pink popcorn is a shorter plant, softer, and doesn’t produce as much for me but it’s a lot sweeter too. Pink lemonade has a sweet/tart combo that’s balanced in my opinion and it really tastes like a strawberry lemonade candy to me. I’ve been growing blueberries in ground and in container for about 15 years and i baby my plants so my experience may not be the same as everyone else’s.
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my favorites here in WV are Cara’s Choice, KaBluey, Legacy and BlueRay…also liking Hanna’s Choice.
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Pink Lemonade is great in muffins and breads.
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out of mine, Chippewa and patriot are the best with northsky a close 2nd.
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Not too much flavor and sweetness are really what I’m most worried about. I would prefer the bush was under six to seven feet though. I’m not sure about patriot and spartan because I’ve heard some people think they’re not very sweet. I forgot about Ka bluey that one does sound like it might be good.
To you think toro is mushy or just kind of soft? I haven’t heard about Draper,but I thought Darrow was supposed to be kind of tart?
I have had no real trouble from my Pink Lemonade. It has beautiful form with little to no pruning, really nice foliage, has pretty berries that ripen over a fairly long season. It really would probably be my #1 recommendation if your top priority ornamental quality and low maintenance. All that said, I am in an area where rabbiteyes are well adapted. Not sure how it would do for the OP. Also have no experience with pink popcorn to compare.
My biggest complaint is that pink lemonade doesn’t bear anywhere near as much as my other rabbiteyes, though to be fair it also gets shade a bit earlier in the evening. Still it’s so far behind I can’t imagine another hour or two of sun would make up the difference. That said, OP specifically said she favors flavor over production, while it is nothing like what I think of when I think of a good blueberry, it is a very good berry with a unique flavor.
I think you’d be disappointed if it was your only blueberry and you’re a blueberry lover, but pink lemonade will probably always have a place in my yard.
Thanks those are all ones I was looking at do you have an order of preference or rank of sweetest to less sweet?
I like the size of cheppawa , but that’s why it’s so hard to choose some say it’s great others say it awful hahaha
I think Cara’s Choice is the sweetest that i grow… but thats likely because it can hang the longest and stays firm. Not as productive as many others and its a medium to large berry so not the largest.
If picked too early or when one thought it was ripe…they wouldnt get the Cara’s experience.
Legacy is like Cara’s in that it has Southern and Northern Highbush breeding so i really like it as well. YMMV.
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Darrow was not tart to me. Maybe picked too early, it could be.
Toro is soft in general and can get squishy when too ripe unlike others that stay kind of firm.
Yeah pink lemonade doesn’t bear heavy like everyone else but for me, I get more than enough to share with all the critters and neighborhood
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Darrow is about the only Blueberry,I could pick out,in a blind taste test.Well,maybe besides Sweetcrisp.
Yes,they need to stay on the bush,for about a week or more,after turning blue,for a deep flavor.
My favorite NHB though,might be Spartan.
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i think where you grow it makes a big difference. Maine is blueberry country. you can’t go into the woods without running into wild lowbush. a teacher friend traded me a Chippewa for some other plants and highly recommended it. and he’s fussy about what he grows. it’s a half high so doesnt get more than 3ft. but the berries here are fabulous. your far enough south, try some southern or rabbiteye varieties also. maybe they will taste better. all of mine can take -30 to -40 so they like the cold. patriot was released by the university of Maine . it does well in my heavy clay and is a heavy producer. i put in toro and another variety i dont remember, last spring. it will be a few more years before i taste them as they were tiny plants i got from hirts. i find the smaller plants establish/ take off faster than older plants up here. so much so i can’t justify the extra cost and shipping for older plants . other areas might have different results.
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Cara’s Choice, Ka-Bluey, and Blueray would be the top three IMO for your climate.
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